The 1999 Big Trip: Africa

Part 5: Back to Kenya

 

At the Norfolk, I saw I had 1974 email messages at home. I also sent a brief note to DBR, and ran into a pair of journalists for The Daily Mail, a British tabloid. One of them even made a comment about how they'd like to work for a real newspaper. For dinner, I had fish and chips at the Delamere Terrace, and I slept for the night. This room, room 19, was not as nice as 420, where I stayed previously.

We left Nairobi early the next day. Two more older women joined the vehicle, making it James and four elderly women. We had a quick stop north of Nairobi, which was supposed to last for 5-10 minutes; it turned into a 45 minute shopping spree. This was how it often was on safari; the majority of the vehicle seemed more interested in shopping than wildlife. That made these rest stops quite tedious for me.

The immediate result of the 45 minute shopping trip was that we had to postpone our stop at the equator until the trip back from Samburu. We arrived at Larsen's Tented Camp in Samburu National Park at 2PM. Lunch was held for us, and was quite tasty. After lunch, I did some birding, and the birding in the camp was excellent. I saw red-billed hornbills, scarlet-chested sunbirds (Nectarinia senegalensis), hunter sunbirds (Nectarinia hunteri) and a glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus). Later in the afternoon, we had a game drive. Mary and Patsy bailed on the drive. I spotted a second verreaux's eagle owl! We also saw more tawny eagles, an eastern yellow-billed hornbill (Tockus flavirostris), long-billed pipit (Anthus similis), grevy's zebra (Equus grevyi), oryx (Oryx gazella), gerenuk (Litocranius walleri), and reticulated giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis reticulata). Samburu is known for four species not seen in other standard safari stops, the grevy's zebra, the gerenuk, oryx, and the Somali ostrich. We saw the first three.

A red-billed hornbill	Hunter's sunbird
Verreaux's Eagle Owl	Francolin
Red-billed Hornbill	Oryx
Three gerenuks	A gerenuk stretching

Click on any image to see a larger picture

Grevy's zebra is different from the more common zebras. The stripes on the back and neck of the zebra are much finer on grevy's zebra, and their bellies are white. Oryx are a type of antelope with extremely long antlers. Some looked like they could scratch their tail by leaning their heads back. The gerenuk is an extremely long-necked antelope, and is capable of standing on its hind legs to reach food. The Somali ostrich, which we never saw, is known for pale blue skin, as opposed to the pink of the Maasai ostrich.

We also saw the more normal animals, elephants, impala, dikdiks, bohor reedbucks (Redunca redunca), bushbucks (Tragelaphus scriptus), waterbucks (Kobus ellipsipyrmnus), and lions. I had some problems with my camera, two rolls of film rewound prematurely. An omen for the next day.

Grevy's Zebra	Genet
Three giraffes

Click on any image to see a larger picture

At the open-air bar, we were treated to two special animals. The bartender was able to mimic the call of the pearl spotted owlet (Glaucidium perlatum), and one came down to the bar where we could see it. Also, just before dinner, three genets (Genetta genetta) came down to watch us eat. During and after dinner, we heard the baboons across the river calling. For the first day, Samburu was an excellent place.

The second day was a disaster. In my journal, I described it as the worst day in the last eight years of my life, and recalling what happened, I'd say that was a fair assessment.

The first incident occurred during the morning game drive. I saw the tip of the tail of a cat, and called for the driver to stop. Apparently, a leopard then walked in front of the vehicle at less than 20 feet. I asked the woman in front of me if she'd move so I could see it, instead, she climbed up on the arm rest of her seat and blocked my view. I did not see the leopard. Strike one.

Then, when I reached the end of the roll of film, the camera jammed. It said it rewound the roll, and instead it didn't. When I opened the camera back, a roll was exposed. Wasted. Strike two.

In the evening before dinner, I was using my flashlight to locate and see nocturnal animals. Well, some Germans didn't like that, and one physically attempted to remove the flashlight from my hands. That one was lucky I didn't just swing my elbow to crack her face. Strike three.

I'd rather forget that day happened, to be honest.

The next day was our last in Samburu. I had made arrangements with Macharia, our driver, to stop in Nanyuki to see if they could made the needed repairs to the camera. I hoped it was just a matter of dust in the motor drive (since the roads had been so dusty) and that some compressed air could clean it out. So, heading south we stopped in Nanyuki, and the camera shop could not help. I went to get some more cash from an ATM (they are even in Nanyuki!) and we agreed that we'd see about arranging a taxi the next morning to Nairobi to a camera shop there.

We had a brief stop at the equator, where I found they had put the sign in the wrong place. (They put it to coincide with a market, not on the exact equator.) Then we headed off to the Outspan Hotel, which is the jumping off point for Treetops. Before leaving the Outspan I made sure to make all the arrangements with Nairobi to get me and the camera there intact.

The Outspan had a lunch buffet, which was not that impressive. From the Outspan, one takes a bus up to Treetops. You get an armed escort from the parking lot to the facility, which is a wooden hotel, on stilts, by a watering hole. To help attract wildlife, they spread salt around the watering hole.

Treetops is where Princess Elizabeth of England spent the night her father died. She came down out of Treetops as Queen Elizabeth II of England. When I found out that the suites were unoccupied, and that I could upgrade to a suite with a private bath for less than $20, I went for it. Ended up in the Princess Elizabeth Suite. I even had my own private balcony to wave to the animals.

While waiting for the sun to set, I met up with another birder, and we saw mountain reedbucks (Redunca fulvorufula), lesser blue-eared starlings (Lamprotornis chloropterus), little swifts (Apus affinis), and a Speke's weaver (Ploceus spekei). After nightfall, we saw a rhinoceros, elephants, cape buffalo, and a white-tailed mongoose (Ichneumia albicauda). Dinner was fish, after which I spent some time with some Australians debating the spiritual. I slept well in the Queen's bed (though the mattress was a bit lumpy.)

The morning ride back to the Outspan Hotel was brief, and we received a buffet breakfast here. My day was spent away from the safari. I hooked up with a taxi that would take me to Nairobi for 5000 Kenyan shillings, about $67. (Having the tour company handle the trip would have been over $200.) It took two and a half hours, where I met up with Evans, who was managing my trip for UTC. We made our way over to Elite Camera, who initially said it would take a week to repair. Given news that I was leaving Kenya, and had three more weeks of travel ahead of me, they agreed to get it fixed in two days.

This meant that I effectively had no camera for the duration of my Kenyan safari, apart from the rolls I took before Tanzania, and the one working roll in Samburu.

Then, it was an additional 3500 shillings to get up to Lake Naivasha, where I would rendezvous with the safari. It was quite a disappointment to miss Lake Nakuru, since that sounded like it would have been the birding highlight of the trip. I'll just have to go back someday.

I also decided that I would purchase a more robust camera when I returned to the United States.

Once I arrived at Naivasha, I wrote up my remaining Kenyan postcards and took a walk around the grounds. This place also had a lot of birds, I saw a long-tailed fiscal, two verreaux's eagle owls, and an African fish eagle. While it certainly didn't make up for missing Nakuru, it was a mild consolation.

Dinner at the Lake Naivasha Country Club was a buffet, and I met up with a mother-daughter pair traveling from England, and had a pleasant conversation. I did not sleep well overnight due to wood smoke.

In the morning, I took advantage of the Country Club's birding experts to go on a morning bird walk. The total number of birds seen in less than 24 hours was amazing! Great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo), great white pelicans (Pelacanus onocrotalus), greater flamingo (Phoenicopterus ruber), fisher's lovebirds (Agopornis fisheri), black cuckoo (Cuculus clamosus), speckled mousebird (Colius striatus), southern ground hornbill (Bucorvus cafer), nubian woodpecker (Campethera nubica), yellow wagtail (Motacilla flava), African pied wagtail (Motacilla aguimp), black cuckooshrike (Campephaga flava), common robin-chat (Cossypha caffra), African reed warbler (Acrocephalus baeticatus), African paradise monarch (Terpsiphone viridis), variable sunbird (Nectarinia venusta), copper sunbird (Nectarinia cuprea), greater blue-eared starlings (Lamprotornis chalybeus), African drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis), Hildebrandt's starling (Spreo hildebrandti), black-bellied seed cracker (Lagonosticta rara), and chestnut sparrows (Passer eminibey).

We drove from Lake Naivasha to Maasai Mara and Keekorok Lodge in the morning. We stopped twice, once for a rest stop, and the second time to visit Maasai Colors, a Maasai village. It was less than spectacular, and was just another place to purchase souvenirs. So, while the women shopped, I wandered around. I did find some white-fronted bee eaters (Merops bullockoides) hanging about. That was nice.

Lunch at Keekorok was quite good, a lunch buffet but with a variety of native foods. Made for a change. After lunch, we just hung about Keekorok. I found some bats in a tree. Also, I met some Americans traveling, and chatted with them for a bit. Robin later joined me at dinner.

The afternoon game drive was cool. More of the same mammals: wildebeest, zebra, buffaloes, giraffe. More lions, and a pair that were copulating. Seems the thing to do if you are a lion. More southern ground hornbills. For me, though, the exciting moment was seeing a dark chanting goshawk (Melierax metabates) take a snake on the ground. I didn't see the actual kill, but I saw the bird leave the perch and then fly back up with a snake in its talons.

I opted for the bush dinner, instead of the regular dinner. This was a traditional African meal served in the woods, with nothing but the stars for cover. The best dish was impala kebabs, with curried red beans. Keekorok has the best food of any of the lodges. After the dinner, we had a demonstration of Maasai dancing. Some serious hops on some of the dancers, perhaps Coach K would be interested?

I got in a wee bit of trouble with the hotel guards after dinner. I went to show Robin and her cousin the planets Jupiter and Saturn, that meant going to a dark place, and there was always a chance of scaring up some unhappy animal. Sorry about that!

I slept well. The next morning we had an early game drive. We went south to the Mara River. The great wildebeest migration south to the Serengeti was just starting, and we'd see huge herds slowly walking south. We crossed the border into Tanzania again, but not far, to see more hippos and crocodiles. Even better for me were two more new birds: African pygmy falcon (Polihierax semitorquatus) and grey-headed kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala). I wish I had my camera. The kingfisher was the 100th new bird I saw in Africa.

On getting back to the lodge, I took the bird walk with their local birding expert. Even more interesting birds, lots of sparrows, starlings, a purple-breasted sunbird (Nectarinia purpureiventris), malachite kingfisher (Corythornis cristata), and a northern masked weaver (Ploceus taeniopterus). A good way to end my last day on safari. I also bought some more trinkets for gifts.

On the continent, I saw almost everything I wanted to see. I'd have liked a closer look at a black rhinoceros, and I'd still like to see striped hyenas and white rhinoceros. I also wanted to see a Somali ostrich. Well, Africa will still be there in a couple years, when I can go back.

After lunch, I had my ride to the airport for my flight to Nairobi. This took about an hour, to another airstrip that was just a clearing. I waited for about 30 minutes for the single engine Cessna to arrive. It was a nine-seater. We made three more stops picking up passengers before flying to Wilson Airport in Nairobi. I was starting to get concerned, since Elite camera closed at 5PM.

I barely made it. Evans met me at Wilson airport and we went straight to the camera shop. Turns out that the motor drive needed to be replaced, and it cost something like $35. Cool. I had my camera again. I was dropped off at the Norfolk, where I'd spend my last night in Kenya.

I went to the Ibis for dinner, the fancy restaurant. I ordered skewered jumbo prawns in chili sauce, ostrich soup, and saffron rice. The prawns redefined jumbo: They were almost as big as lobster tails. In the chili sauce, everything was delicious. I had a white chocolate souffle for dessert. My father finally figured out how to call Kenya, about an hour after I had gone to sleep. Apart from that interruption, I slept well.

I had to, my wakeup call was at 3:30AM, and I was picked up at 4:15 for my 6:30 AM flight to Antananarivo, in Madagascar. At the airport, I felt like I finally ran into my first African scam. They demanded $114 in excess luggage charges. (I was about 20 kilograms overweight, due to my camera gear.) The flight was $350, so it seemed a bit high. I took out my American Express card. "No credit cards." So, I started to write out a traveler's check. "No travelers checks, cash only." Keep in mind, it is 5 AM. I tried to pay in Kenyan shillings and US dollars. "No mixed currencies."

No choice, I had to dig into my bag to pull some dollars out of my emergency supply, and pay 120 dollars. "No change." How much do you want to bet that this c*ck-s*ck*ng m*th*r-f*ck*r pocketed the money himself?

Worse, my seat reservation was not honored. Air Madagascar had already impressed me in the first 5 minutes as being a Mickey Mouse operation. There was no overhead luggage space, and no room under the seat in front of me (the people next to me used that space for their luggage). So, I flew to Antananarivo with my backpack in my lap, and with my feet in the aisle. Somehow, I managed to survive the flight and land in Antananarivo in one piece.